Liverpool to defend their FA Cup title

The Reds were last beaten by Brentford FC after 4 wins in a row in the Premier League. Now they want to get back on track in the FA Cup and advance to the next round against Wolverhampton. However, with their new coach Julen Lopetegui, they should not be underestimated, as was already evident in the game against Manchester United. 

Liverpool just aren't doing well this season. After 4 wins in a row and a good phase after Christmas, they had to admit defeat to FC Brentford on the last matchday. The team now has a clearly negative record away from home. It is therefore a great advantage that the Reds are playing their FA Cup game against the Wolves at home. They remain very difficult to beat at Anfield. It will also be interesting with which team coach Jürgen Klopp will act. Wolves will certainly field their best XI as it's their only chance of a title this season. With Julen Lopetegui on the sidelines, the form curve has also shown an upward trend in the last few games.

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Liverpool analysis

Liverpool continue to fall short of their own expectations this season. In the Premier League only in 6th place, already eliminated in the EFL Cup and in the Champions League group stage it was only enough for 2nd place. Now it should go to the next round at least in the FA Cup. For that they need a home win against the penultimate Premier League team Wolverhampton. Although the performances are not shown consistently this year, they are the clear favorites at home on Anfield Road. 

A big construction site this season is the defensive. The former best defensive in Europe around Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander Arnold is only a shadow of itself this year. In the Premier League they have already conceded 22 goals in just 17 games. This means that they have already conceded as many goals as in the 2018/19 season. The last time they kept a clean sheet was in the Champions League against SSC Napoli. Since then they have conceded at least one goal in 7 games in a row. One of the best providers of assists last season, Trent Alexander Arnold, has just one assist this year.

The Reds will of course rely on Anfield in the duel against Wolverhampton. The performances of the team differ greatly between home and away games. While they are only in the middle of the table away from home and have a negative balance, they are in 3rd place in the home table of the Premier League. They have suffered just one home defeat this season and that was against Leeds United on Matchday 14. They won their only home game so far after the World Cup break 2-1 against Leicester City. However, it was also the 3rd home game in a row by conceding at least one goal. 

Just over a week ago, Liverpool FC unveiled their first new signing this winter. The club secured the services of Dutch international Cody Gakpo. The ex-PSV professional showed strong performances at the World Cup and scored 3 goals there. Jürgen Klopp was reacting to the injury misery on the offensive where Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and Roberto Firmino are currently absent. So far, however, Gakpo has not been deployed because important signatures are still missing on his work permit. It shouldn't be long before he's allowed to play for Liverpool FC. However, it is also not known whether he could already play against the Wolves.

Wolves analysis

One reason for the low odds on the win for Liverpool is probably the good record against Wolverhampton. They have all won the last 7 games against the Wolves. However, their last defeat so far came in the FA Cup in the 2018/19 season. Since then they have celebrated 7 victories in a row and 5 times they even managed to keep the zero. Wolverhampton only managed 2 goals in that period. 4 of these last 7 duels ended with less than 2.5 goals. The last duel at Anfield took place last season and ended with a 3-1 win for the Reds. 

After 4 strong years in the Premier League, the Wolves find themselves in a relegation zone this year. Throughout the season they have lived up to their own expectations and for a long time were even bottom of the table . The club reacted a few weeks ago and hired a new coach in Julen Lopetegui. The Spaniard should primarily lead the club to stay up. After 2 wins from the first 3 games it is at least clear that the form curve is pointing upwards. After 2 wins, they also showed a good performance in the narrow 0-1 defeat against Manchester United.

It's probably been a weakness of the Wolves for years, but this year it's taking on new dimensions. In 17 Premier League games they scored just 10 goals. This is of course the worst offensive in the entire league. The team's top scorer is Ruben Neves, a central midfielder. Strikers Raul Jimenez and Diego Costa have not scored yet. The newly signed Sasa Kalakdzic is also still injured. The transfer of Matheus Cunha is supposed to help solving the scoring problem. It is quite possible that this will be used against Liverpool.

The Wolves have only won one away game this Premier League season so far. Nevertheless, they have collected at least 5 points from 8 games. In the away table you are at least in 17th place. Defensively they are one of the best teams in the league with 12 goals conceded. But only 5 goals were scored here and therefore just over 0.5 goals per game. 2 of them in the last and at the same time first away game under the new coach that they could win 1-2 against Everton. It was the 2nd away game in a row that they didn't lose and the third in which they could score. 

The situation with the Wolves is similar to that of the opponent in the FA Cup. The only real success came in the 2018/19 season when they made it to the semi-finals, only to lose out against Watford FC. Since then they have not made it past the 5th round. In general, they have only managed to do this once in the past 20 years.

Liverpool - Wolves: What to expect? 

Despite losing to Brentford a few days ago, Liverpool FC are the clear favorites in the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers. However, with odds of less than 1.30, Tip 1 is not our preferred bet option. Wolverhampton are the worst attacking team in the league. Liverpool would be perfectly capable of winning this game without conceding a goal. As a result, we also believe that there will be fewer than 3.5 goals in the game.

• Liverpool to win to nil at odds of 2.05
• Under 3.5 at odds of 1.56

* All odds and markets are correct at time of publication and subject to change.